Burrito West Blog

This is a post about me. 

I have had a bug phobia for as long as I can remember. My motto as a kid was 'pave the planet' which was motivated entirely by wanting to never have to encounter another bug. I've come a long way - working in sustainability and realizing ecosystems and bugs and stuff are important. But I still made Peter deal with any creepy crawlies by pointing in their direction and refusing to look that way again until it was taken care of.

Then a friend took me on a backpacking camping trip to Garibaldi and it was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. So beautiful it was worth the risk of bugs (and fortunately the bugs were not bad when we were there). It was also nice to go camping with women who knew I was new to the whole thing but also knew I could do it. They taught me stuff but didn't do everything for me. They let me struggle and find my way through setting up a tent or whatever else needed doing - maybe with a bit of assistance or encouragement, but I did it in the end. 

And I survived the bugs. 

So then I went on a backpacking camping trip to Manning Park with some women friends. And it was stupidly cold (like, 4 degrees C in August), and quite buggy (like, pulled out the bug hat).... and I survived. Not sure I enjoyed that one (it was really cold), but I did it.

And now, having returned from eight days of wilderness camping - pulling up to a beach in a kayak and just finding a spot in the forest to pitch a tent (no tent pads). I'm feeling pretty proud of myself. We got to see some beautiful landscapes and be in a remote place that is less altered by humans that what I'm used to. And there were bugs, but it was manageable. The one beach where it was too much I did hide in my tent for a while reading, I think that's acceptable. 

On this trip we went on a hike up Yatza mountain (well, some of it) and the guide said there was a boggy portion so we should wear rainboots or water shoes because we would be in really wet conditions. So I put on my neoprene kayak ankle booties and said, ok. We started by wading across a river. Then bushwhacked through a forest (seriously, pushing our way through undergrowth, ducking under trees and bushes) and then we arrived at a bog and every step from then on was wet for a few hours. The bog went up the mountain. I didn't know that was possible. We crossed two small waterfalls. Had lunch in the sideways rain at the highest point we went to. It was challenging. Notably, I would not normally agree to get my feet wet in a bog (things live in bogs). I would hesitate to wade across a river (things live in rivers). Crawling through bushes is definitely not normally on my list of things to do willingly. I certainly wouldn't hike for several hours in wet shoes. But I did. And survived. And am glad I did because when else will I have a chance to hike up Yatza mountain? There's no trail. 

I hesitate to say I enjoy these conditions, I don't really. I do find the bugs stressful at times. And being cold and wet sucks. And I don't find going to the bathroom in nature comfortable in any way. But the places I am in and the things I get to see make it worth it. I mean - look at this place. Ridonkulous.

I'll never go camping for the sake of going camping, but I will do it if it gets me somewhere amazing.

Each time I go, I spend less mental energy on worrying about the bugs. And I'm hoping this effect holds at home too.  Even if it doesn't - I'm out there doing a thing that it took some courage to do, and that's not nothing.